What is A Course in Miracles?

Imagine you are climbing a ladder to Heaven, rung by rung. Each rung gleams more resplendently as you draw nearer and nearer to Heavenly Light. You are open to receiving recommendations straight from the Holy Spirit.

His Light is almost blinding and you realize the Holy Spirit is not shining brighter – you are drawing nearer as His Magnetism becomes irresistible. And when you reach the top you realize there is no individual “you”… Enlightenment!

A Course in Miracles offers a workbook practice to help you reach Enlightenment. The practice reconnects you with your Internal Teacher, the Holy Spirit. This connection changes everything. As you follow Spirit Guidance you are liberated from fear and empowered by Love. But … sticking with this guidance can be tricky, as the ego may very well kick up a fuss as it senses its ultimate demise.

This is why the Holy Spirit offers some very clear recommendations so you can stay on-track. As you stick with Spirit, you develop more focus, faith and trust in your own experience which then strengthens your connection to the Truth which is already in your mind. Here are some basic recommendations from the Holy Spirit as given by Jesus in ACIM:

Recommendations Straight from the Holy Spirit

★ Develop the good habit of practicing your workbook lesson as close to awakening, and going to sleep, as possible.

★ There is also a purification process involved, so it’s natural to experience unpleasant side effects at times. But remember, when swimming pools are disinfected, first the muddy, murky sludge that has gathered at the bottom is churned up to the surface. Only after the filter has been going for a while does the water become clear. In the same way, you are cleansed and purified through the workbook practice. After a while fear and darkness dissolve, and all that remains is the loving light You Really Are.

★ All the workbook lessons should be done in an unhurried manner. A comfortable sense of leisure is essential. With our busy lives, this often seems impossible. But if you ask the Holy Spirit to help you find the time, He will give you that miracle. After all, we’re told at the very beginning of the ACIM Text, in the 50 miracle principles, that miracles collapse time. They are nothing if not practical!

★ As you practice the idea for the day, use it totally indiscriminately. Do not attempt to apply it to everything you see, for these exercises should not become ritualistic. Only be sure that nothing you see is specifically excluded. One thing is like another as far as the application of the idea is concerned. This is important because it impresses on the mind the first miracle principle: “There is no order of difficulty in miracles.” When this becomes real to us, there is nothing else to do but naturally and effortlessly spend our lives extending miracles.

★ “The curriculum is highly individualized, and all aspects are under the Holy Spirit’s particular care and guidance.” ACIM, M-29. Isn’t it comforting and inspiring to know that the Holy Spirit is working with you individually?*

★ Open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and feel His power surging Life and Love into you. Doing the workbook practice is like plugging in your cell phone – a powerful energy is charging you up! And there will be signs to boost your confidence along the way.

* There will come a day when you realize that you were working with the Holy Spirit, not He with you. He helps you awaken to Reality, not dream a better dream. When you choose His guidance, you are choosing against illusions and enlightenment is recognized as always here, always true. “The Holy Spirit must work through you to teach you He is in you. This is an intermediary step towards the knowledge that you are in God because you are part of Him.” (T-7.IV.2:1-2)

For a long time, it seems as if your path is your own – very personal and filled with unique experiences. It is your particular set of experiences, relationships and understandings. This is because first you must become your self, and that readies you to realize your Self. “A tiny moment of surprise, perhaps, will make you pause before you realize the world you see before you in the light reflects the truth you knew, and did not quite forget in wandering away in dreams.” (W-131: No one can fail who seeks to reach the truth.)

Now, after taking in these six recommendations straight from the Holy Spirit, try it again: Imagine you are climbing a ladder to Heaven, rung by rung. Each rung gleams more resplendently as you draw nearer and nearer to Heavenly Light. The Holy Spirit is not shining brighter – you are drawing nearer. And when you reach the top you realize there is no individual “you”… Enlightenment!

Workin’ the Workbook (WtW) is an online class that helps structure, clarify and support your Course in Miracles Workbook practice. WtW also helps you persevere and stick with all 365 lessons. Many people quit before completing the Workbook and don’t get to experience the rewards of choosing the Holy Spirit rather than the ego.

You can begin at any lesson — start with Lesson 1 or resume where you left off. The price is $37 a month (just a bit more than a dollar a day) and no one is turned away due to lack of funds (email me at miracles@amytorresacim.com to ask about scholarships).

A Course in Miracles teaches us a new definition of forgiveness. This new definition offers us an entirely different way of understanding ourselves and our relationships. As the introduction to ACIM states, the Course offers us a forgiveness practice as a way of “removing the blocks to the awareness of Love’s Presence” which naturally leads to giving and receiving miracles.

In the Five Keys to Forgiveness workshop, Amy Torres shares tools and tales for understanding forgiveness in new ways, and ideas for applying these principles in our daily lives. We cover:

Laughing is the application of ACIM principles. It’s right there in Chapter 27: “Into eternity, where all is one, there crept a tiny, mad idea, at which the Son of God remembered not to laugh. In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea, and possible of both accomplishment and real effects. Together, we can laugh them both away, and understand that time cannot intrude upon eternity. It is a joke to think that time can come to circumvent eternity, which means there is no time.” T-27.VIII.6:2-5

Dr. Bernie Siegel, the author of Love, Medicine and Miracles, has many stories to tell about the power of laughter. There’s a whole school of yoga devoted to laughter. Comedian John Cleese says, “Laughter is a force for democracy.” Cancer thriver, as Kris Carr calls herself, has laughed in the face of terminal disease. Vice president Joe Biden shines light when he shares the tragic death of his wife and child. How do we laugh when we’re least likely to feel like laughing?

Biden considered suicide but came to find, “There will come a day, I promise you, and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye.” He was speaking to the families of military veterans, but it goes for the rest of us as well. It applies to anyone who has contemplated suicide or hurt inside in any way, for any reason.

“This is the great wake-up call, this is the great spiritual practice. What am I going to do now? Am I going to fold?,” asked Carr, author of Crazy, Sexy Cancer, who was given a death sentence but instead chose to keep smiling and become a peace revolutionary through a plant-based diet.

There is a saying, “Time heals all wounds.” A Course in Miracles promises to save us time. It teaches that miracles literally collapse time. The miracle of laughter uses time for healing rather than brooding, simmering, panicking, collapsing, or seeking vengeance.

“The Holy Spirit uses time as He thinks best, and He is never wrong. Psychotherapy under His direction is one of the means He uses to save time …” P-1.5:5-6

Laughter is psychotherapy. Laughter is good medicine. And when we just can’t bring ourselves to laugh, a wry comment, some dry humor, a small smile are better than nothing. They are the equivalent of raising our eyes up from the ground and looking out towards the horizon. There is some scientific evidence which shows that laughter, even when we force it, or fake it, stimulates chemical changes in the brain and body which are powerfully healing.

Of course, ACIM students learn that the only illness is mental illness and when we’re willing to change our minds, we find an inner peace that removes the wrinkles from our brow and puts a smile on our lips. Remembering to laugh is choosing to forgive. Lesson 121 is, “Forgiveness is the key to happiness,” and Lesson 122 follows with, “[Forgiveness] sparkles on your eyes as you awake, and gives you joy with which to meet the day.”

At the root of physical and emotional pain is always psychological pain. Whether our situation is dramatic or mundane, we deserve to exercise our option to choose light and laughter. Remembering to laugh is an undoing process that takes us from our personal problems all the way back to the one problem the Course says is the only real problem: believing the tiny, mad idea that we are separate from God. All we have to do to establish inner peace is choose again, choose to recognize the cosmic joke is on us, and forgive, forgive, forgive!

TIP: Paradoxically, sometimes the only way to laugh is to stop laughing. When I was going through a “dark night of the soul,” it was healing for me to stop laughing and smiling, because I blocked people from helping me with my constant good cheer. They just assumed I was okay. So if it seems to you that your smile is a defense, relax into your pain and allow that energy to move through you. This is easier said than done, because becoming vulnerable when we’re frozen with self-protection takes time. And certain emotions feel dangerous. But if you sincerely want to heal, the Holy Spirit will show you how, and will help you find a healer with whom to do release work. You will laugh again. And each time you do, time will melt into timelessness until you remember Who you already are.

Tingles of Truth send little thrills up the spine and warmth through the heart as I read these review lessons.

The theme is holiness and innocence; holiness and salvation; and holiness and Oneness.

“Seen through understanding eyes, the holiness of the world is all I see, for I can picture only the thoughts I hold about myself.”

There is no longer any interest in identifying as “me.” The thoughts I hold about myself are Live Streaming from God; the person is the last to know and the first to go! Seeing the best in people has nothing to do with their personalities; it is only about seeing through personality to the illumined presence within.

All rotten thoughts (and the resulting bad behavior) comes from fear. Judging nothing and no one leave an open Mind and open Heart. Being a conduit for holiness, love and blessings becomes the only response. “I am” blessed as a Son of God and consciousness re-merges in the Absolute.

LESSON 58

These ideas are for review today:

1. (36) My holiness envelops everything I see.

From my holiness does the perception of the real world come. Having forgiven, I no longer see myself as guilty. I can accept the innocence that is the truth about me. Seen through understanding eyes, the holiness of the world is all I see, for I can picture only the thoughts I hold about myself.

2. (37) My holiness blesses the world.

The perception of my holiness does not bless me alone. Everyone and everything I see in its light shares in the joy it brings to me. There is nothing that is apart from this joy, because there is nothing that does not share my holiness. As I recognize my holiness, so does the holiness of the world shine forth for everyone to see.

3. (38) There is nothing my holiness cannot do.

My holiness is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power to save. What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are all illusions except false ideas about myself? My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about me. In the presence of my holiness, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish.

4. (39) My holiness is my salvation.

Since my holiness saves me from all guilt, recognizing my holiness is recognizing my salvation. It is also recognizing the salvation of the world. Once I have accepted my holiness, nothing can make me afraid. And because I am unafraid, everyone must share in my understanding, which is the gift of God to me and to the world.

5. (40) I am blessed as a Son of God.

Herein lies my claim to all good and only good. I am blessed as a Son of God. All good things are mine, because God intended them for me. I cannot suffer any loss or deprivation or pain because of Who I am. My Father supports me, protects me, and directs me in all things. His care for me is infinite, and is with me forever. I am eternally blessed as His Son.

Do you assume you are a person? Is it a given that your body and your personality are “you”?

One way of describing A Course in Miracles is that it offers a cure to the delusional belief all people hold that their identity is connected to the body. If this is a brand new thought for you, you are probably saying, “Wha???”

That’s okay. It’s a huge turning point for every ACIM student when he or she “gets it” that everything is happening in the mind, not the body.

The only problem people have is a mental problem; it is not a brain-body problem. Your only problem is a mind problem. This is why Jesus tells us in Chapter 21, “Seek not to change the world. Choose to change your mind about the world.”

Can you locate the mind? Try to put your finger on the mind. What is the mind composed of? Thoughts, beliefs, ideas, concepts. Can you touch thoughts, beliefs, ideas and concepts?

As you contemplate this, notice whether a click of recognition arises … or fear. Recognition is the memory of God within you surfacing through ego-imposed clouds and darkness. Fear is the voice of the ego saying, “Don’t remember!” Don’t remember what? Who you really are: Spirit extending naturally from the Formless, Timeless, Changeless, Innocent, Unified God-Mind which is your Source.

By the way, the ego offers us all kinds of cures for sickness and unhappiness. Sometimes they work on the human level; sometimes they don’t. The nature of the ego is that it is changing, contradictory and unstable. But the Holy Spirit offers a sure-fire cure that always works. The central idea in Lesson 140 states: “Only salvation can be said to cure.”

Salvation means the undoing of what never was. The ego is the dreamer of a dream that we are separate from God. Ego mesmerizes us by imagining bodies, from the celestial level to the human level. Ego mind would keep us stuck in the concept of a body forever, but Lesson 140 offers us a way out, “The happy dreams the Holy Spirit brings … lead from sleep to gentle waking, so that dreams are gone. And thus they cure for all eternity.”

We need the Holy Spirit to undo our beliefs because, as people, we are stuck within a limited ego thought system which does not want us to understand that we can be cured of personal identity. This cure, to the ego, seems to be death. As the beloved master Mooji says, it is only death to what you are not, but What You Truly Are is Life and Life cannot include death.

The cure for living as a person is to undo the person completely. The person cannot undo the person; it is the Holy Spirit’s job to unravel the tangled web we elected the ego to weave. Just withdraw your vote for darkness and complexity, and Light and Simplicity will naturally arise in the Mind of which you are an inextricable extension.

At first, improving the person seems necessary, but eventually, you get the hang of dropping the person altogether. Let me know if this makes sense to you — email me at miracles@amytorresacim.com

Watch for my upcoming book, Sweet Dreams of Awakening. And let’s practice together! Watch and listen to my readings of each ACIM Lesson on Youtube. Also, check out Workin’ the Workbook, my online class which supports the ACIM Workbook practice.

There is nothing to fear. There is no thing to fear. There are no things because things are made up by the ego.

Complete safety is our birthright. In the Light which we really are, there is nothing but Radiance streaming through Timelessness.

When you know you are not a body, you feel safe in the world, even if the world is unsafe.

This is how Jesus walked on water — Light bodies obey the laws of God, not gravity!

LESSON 48

There is nothing to fear.

The idea for today simply states a fact. It is not a fact to those who believe in illusions, but illusions are not facts. In truth there is nothing to fear. It is very easy to recognize this. But it is very difficult to recognize it for those who want illusions to be true.

Today’s practice periods will be very short, very simply and very frequent. Merely repeat the idea as often as possible. You can use it with your eyes open at any time and in any situation. It is strongly recommended, however, that you take a minute or so whenever possible to close your eyes and repeat the idea to yourself slowly several times. It is particularly important that you use the idea immediately, should anything disturb your peace of mind.

The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength. The awareness that there is nothing to fear shows that somewhere in your mind, though not necessarily in a place that you recognize as yet, you have remembered God, and let His strength take the place of your weakness. The instant you are willing to do this there is indeed nothing to fear.

The ego mind is a weapon of mass distraction. Distraction is destruction, when it comes to peace of mind. That’s why it’s imperative to learn how to stop mind chatter.

Peace of Mind is God-Thought — a Oneness joined as One. Absolute God-Thought does not contain words or images, shapes or forms, time or space; It just Is. It is Life — Unborn, Undying Being.

Ego-thinking, on the other hand, is a dreamer of a false identity within God-Mind. It is an attempt to split and limit what is Unified and Limitless. It is imaginative but not Creative. The descent from Oneness to personal identity contains layers of veils to prevent you from remembering your True Self.

“Never allow purity to remain hidden, but shine away the heavy veils of guilt within which the Son of God has hidden himself from his own sight.” (T-14.V.4:4)

How do we nip ego-mind chatter in the bud?

Jesus tells us as early as Chapter 3, “You are much too tolerant of mind wandering, and are passively condoning your mind’s miscreations.” And in Lesson 43, he says, “Do not allow any protracted period to occur in which you become preoccupied with irrelevant thoughts.”

It is a turning point when you are able to catch irrelevant thoughts and use mind chatter as a reminder to choose again. The tool Jesus provides in Lesson 43 is to repeat, “God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.” It is one of countless expressions of God choices. You can simply say, “Holy Spirit, help me!” or “I am Spirit” or “God, God, God.”

I’ve found that a powerful alternative that fits perfectly with A Course in Miracles is to use Sanskrit, which is primarily a vibrationally-based language and only secondarily meaning-based. For a better understanding of what I mean by this and how it works, watch Prescription for Inner Peace.

In Lesson 40 we are instructed to repeat the central idea, “I am blessed as a Son of God,” every 10 minutes, a form of mindfulness. I think of mindfulness as good self talk.

Good self talk is an internal process — a way of thinking. Most of us have an ongoing mental stream of self-criticism or discontent with others. We don’t even know there is another way to think.

On the human level, good self talk is kind, encouraging, comforting and loving. The results include increased confidence, calm and empathy. I first came across it in yoga during savasana, the deep relaxation at the end of the asana practice. My teacher, Dharma Mittra, guided us to express gratitude to our organs, like so, “Thank you, heart. Thank you, kidneys. Thank you, liver. Thank you, stomach.”

This was completely novel to me, and my heart embraced loving myself and the greater Intelligence that made the body work. Spontaneously, I felt more connected to myself and something Greater as well.

Jesus tells us, in Lesson 40, that we are going to begin to assert some of the happy things to which we are entitled, “being what you are.” Because we are Happy, Peaceful, Love, Contentment, Calm, Quiet, Assured, Confident, we are to remind ourselves of this Fact every 10 minutes. We are not talking ourselves into trying to believe that we are Happy, Peaceful, etc. We are shifting our attention from the ego to the Truth.

Then, we are invited to add attributes we associate with being a Son of God to this list. Sometimes I like to think of “Son” as “Sun” because it follows naturally that I am an extension of God’s Loving Light. I am one of God’s Great Rays. I am Radiant, I am Innocence, I am Whole, I am Safe, I am Fearless, I am Relaxed, I am Luminous Love.

“I am blessed as a Son of God. I am innocent, fearless, Whole. I am fulfilled, nourished, radiant with Purpose.” Often I figure out my attributes by noticing what I don’t want: I don’t want to be hungry, I don’t want to be driven by body needs, I don’t want to have body pain, I don’t want to make demands on others, I don’t want to have expectations of others, I don’t want others to suffer, etc.

Then I translate: I am full with the Love of God. I am formless, changeless, Spirit. I am whole and free. I am at peace, fulfilled, content. I need nothing because I am that I am. I am relaxed, happy, at peace, filled with purpose, filled with love. Therefore, we are all Whole, Unified, at Peace and Joyful.

Lesson 40 is a potent, uplifting lesson. Jesus tells us that this exercise is possible to practice “quite well under any circumstances, if you really want to.” This means that I can say it in my mind while talking on the phone, working with clients, teaching students, interacting with shop keepers, driving, etc.

How beautiful to be looking at another and saying to myself, “I am blessed as a Son of God. Therefore you are blessed as a Son of God. We are happy, peaceful, unified, innocent, fearless, content.” If you’d like to practice together, click here for my mindfulness MP3s.

LESSON 40

I am blessed as a Son of God.

Today we will begin to assert some of the happy things to which you are entitled, being what you are. No long practice periods are required today, but very frequent short ones are necessary. Once every ten minutes would be desirable, and you are urged to attempt this schedule and to adhere to it whenever possible. If you forget, try again. If there are long interruptions, try again. Whenever you remember, try again.

You need not close your eyes for the exercise periods, although you will probably find it more helpful if you do. However, you may be in a number of situations during the day when closing your eyes would not be feasible. Do not miss a practice period because of this. You can practice quite well under any circumstances, if you really want to.

Today’s exercises take little time and no effort. Repeat the idea for today, and then add several of the attributes you associate with being a Son of God, applying them to yourself. One practice period might, for example, consist of the following:

I am blessed as a Son of God.I am happy, peaceful, loving and contented.

Another might take this form:

I am blessed as a Son of God.I am calm, quiet, assured and confident.

If only a brief period is available, merely telling yourself that you are blessed as a Son of God will do.

First we have to agree that guilt is hell. For many of us, guilt is the signal that we have a conscience, an ethical center. If we gave up guilt we might run amok, rampage, loot, steal, binge, and have orgies. Hmmm. Most of us have had the experience of doing things we know we shouldn’t even though we feel guilty 🙂 From a Course perspective, guilt keeps us believing we have separated from God by telling us we’ve done something wrong.

If we’re not guilty then we are innocent. Innocence, from a Course perspective, is an attribute of kjhgGod’s Mind. Innocence is Oneness and Oneness is Holiness. Recognizing my holiness saves me from the misinformation the ego offers. Recognizing my holiness “returns” me to an undifferentiated State of Mind — a state of Wholeness in which sin, guilt, fear, punishment and death are impossible and do not exist.

And, of course, if my holiness is my salvation, that is how my holiness blesses the world (Lesson 37). This makes me think of wounded healers. I became a psychotherapist because I was emotionally wounded and therapy healed me beyond the personality; it led to a series of spiritual awakenings. I felt drawn to others who wanted to undergo deep self-examination.

I was, as the Course says, teaching what I wanted to learn (Introduction to the Manual for Teachers, “The course … emphasizes that to teach is to learn, so that teacher and learner are the same.” and Miracle Principle 16: “Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating it is as blessed to give as to receive. They simultaneously increase the strength of the giver and supply strength to the receiver.”)

At some point, this phrase was given to me, “Amy teaches self-awareness which leads to Self-Awareness. God takes it from there.” This teaching is an unlearning; it is a dis-identifying with the person; a “learning” to not take ourselves and others personally. If you’re interested, read: How to Take Yourself Less Personally

LESSON 39

My holiness is my salvation.

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? Like the text for which this workbook was written, the ideas used for the exercises are very simple, very clear and totally unambiguous. We are not concerned with intellectual facts nor logical toys. We are dealing only in the very obvious, which has been overlooked in the clouds of complexity in which you think you think.

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite? This is not difficult, surely. The hesitation you may feel in answering is not due to the ambiguity of the question. But do you believe that guilt is hell? If you did, you would see at once how direct and simple the text is, and you would not need a workbook at all. No one needs practice to gain what is already his.

We have already said that your holiness is the salvation of the world. What about your own salvation? You cannot give what you do not have. A savior must be saved. How else can he teach salvation? Today’s exercises will apply to you, recognizing that your salvation is crucial to the salvation of the world. As you apply the exercises to your world, the whole world stands to benefit.

Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is being asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own. How could you to whom your holiness belongs be excluded from it? God does not know unholiness. Can it be He does not know His Son?

A full five minutes are urged for the four longer practice periods for today, and longer and more frequent practice sessions are encouraged. If you want to exceed the minimum requirements, more rather than longer sessions are recommended, although both are suggested.

Begin the practice periods as usual, by repeating today’s idea to yourself. Then, with closed eyes, search out your unloving thoughts in whatever form they appear; uneasiness, depression, anger, fear, worry, attack, insecurity and so on. Whatever form they take, they are unloving and therefore fearful. And so it is from them that you need to be saved.

Specific situations, events or personalities you associate with unloving thoughts of any kind are suitable subjects for today’s exercises. It is imperative for your salvation that you see them differently. And it is your blessing on them that will save you and give you vision.

Slowly, without conscious selection and without undue emphasis on any one in particular, search your mind for every thought that stands between you and your salvation. Apply the idea for today to each of them in this way:

My unloving thoughts about ____________ are keeping me in hell.

My holiness is my salvation.

You may find these practice periods easier if you intersperse them with several short periods during which you merely repeat today’s idea to yourself slowly a few times. You may also find it helpful to include a few short intervals in which you just relax and do not seem to be thinking of anything. Sustained concentration is very difficult at first. It will become much easier as your mind becomes more disciplined and less distractible.

Meanwhile, you should feel free to introduce variety into the exercise periods in whatever form appeals to you. Do not, however, change the idea itself as you vary the method of applying it. However you elect to use it, the idea should be stated so that its meaning is the fact that your holiness is your salvation. End each practice period by repeating the idea in its original form once more, and adding:

If guilt is hell, what is its opposite?

In the shorter applications which should be made some three or four times an hour and more if possible, you may ask yourself this question, repeat today’s idea, and preferably both. If temptations arise, a particularly helpful form of the idea is:

“The purpose of today’s exercises is to begin to instill in you a sense that you have dominion over all things because of what you are.” Dominion meaning “true Authority,” not “supremacy.” This is not grandiosity. Grandiosity is of the ego. This is true humility.

“Only the ego can be arrogant. But truth is humble in acknowledging its mightiness, its changelessness and its eternal wholeness, all-encompassing, God’s perfect gift to His beloved Son.” (W-152)

When we connect to our Source, there is nothing our holiness cannot do. It does not change the world. It changes our perspective about the world. Connecting with holiness undoes the world by awakening us from our dream of the world.

It is important to grasp that when Lesson 38 says, “Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest.” this is not about worldly manifestation. “Manifest” is used by Jesus to mean “clear” or “obvious”. It is about moving your attention from the ego split-mind to your true Unified Mind. Let’s read the sentence again, like this: “Through you holiness the power of God is clear and obvious.” How do you know? There is an Inner Peace, Quiet Certainty, and persistent Joy.

If we take this lesson seriously, it is very comforting, and very empowering. Do the exercises below with sincere focus and reap the rewards of knowing nothing and the peace and freedom that arises as “fragmented you” expands into Unified You.

LESSON 38

There is nothing my holiness cannot do.

Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator.

Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest. Through your holiness the power of God is made available. And there is nothing the power of God cannot do. Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. It is equal in its power to help anyone because it is equal in its power to save anyone.

If you are holy, so is everything God created. You are holy because all things He created are holy. And all things He created are holy because you are. In today’s exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all problems, difficulties or suffering in any form that you happen to think of, in yourself or in someone else. We will make no distinctions because there are no distinctions.

In the four longer practice periods, each preferably to last a full five minutes, repeat the idea for today, close your eyes, and then search your mind for any sense of loss or unhappiness of any kind as you see it. Try to make as little distinction as possible between a situation that is difficult for you, and one that is difficult for someone else. Identify the situation specifically, and also the name of the person concerned. Use this form in applying the idea for today:

In the situation involving _________ in which I see myself, there is nothing that my holiness cannot do.

In the situation involving _______ in which _______ see himself, there is nothing my holiness cannot do.

From time to time you may want to vary this procedure, and add some relevant thoughts of your own. You might like, for example, to include thoughts such as:

There is nothing my holiness cannot do because the power of God lies in it.

Introduce whatever variations appeal to you, but keep the exercises focused on the theme, “There is nothing my holiness cannot do.” The purpose of today’s exercises is to begin to instill in you a sense that you have dominion over all things because of what you are.

In the frequent shorter applications, apply the idea in its original form unless a specific problem concerning you or someone else arises, or comes to mind. In that event, use the more specific form in applying the idea to it.